My Reading Soapbox

I have always been a voracious reader. Okay, only since I learned to read, but really...

When I graduated from picture books to chapter books, there was Charlotte's Web, A Wrinkle in Time, and Phantom Tollbooth. Moving past those it was time for a brief stint with The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and The Babysitter's Club, but then, "adult" fiction was all that was left. Alas, at 12 years of age, I was looking at my parent's bookshelf for reading material - Tom Robbins, Ernest Hemingway, Tom Clancy, and their likes. There was no "young adult" section in bookstores. Just "children's" and "adult".

Now a teacher, I am fascinated by all that is available to that middle-of-the-road reader. The 12-17-year-olds who aren't ready for the sofisticated humor of adult fiction, or the lengthy metaphors loved by the uber-essayist. And as I mentioned, I am a voracious reader, so the books that find their way to my classroom also find their way into my hands. I have been reading all that my students read, or that is available to them to read.

However, I am dismayed by the amount of series being written. Even those books now classified as "young adult" from my time (not that long ago, I know) were mostly series. It was fun for the first couple, but then it ended. There was never a clear end. The time seemed to stand still in ageless characters. And now it continues. All the most popular books are but parts of a series. Maybe it's the age. Maybe this is something I don't know about the students I teach, that they crave a continuation of enjoyable events ---- aha! How writing can bring enlightenment!

But of course! What teenager wants the happy moments to end? Why were we late for curfew? Why did a marathon of our favorite tv show outweigh the math homework? Why did we play that song over and over and over again?

Mystery solved.

Diatribe almost over.

As fun as it is to read all these books, the adult in me has had enough. I am done with series. I want closure, or at least an end to the story. When our book club read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, I ended the book thinking, "But I don't want it to end", in my whiniest thought voice. Another book? No. The more time that passes, the more I appreciate that the author(s) ended where she(they) did.  

And now that I'm almost done here, I realize I will get one comment about how many other books there were that were perfect for my 12-year-old brain that were not series. However, clearly they were not memorable enough for me to know them now and write about them.

I remembered the series though.

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The Making of "My Reading Soapbox"

Me: Would you italicize or put quotation marks around a book title?

Hubby: I would do quotation marks.

Me: Really?

Hubby: I don't know. Italicize.

Me: Really?

Hubby: Actually, I would underline it.

Me: Really?

Hubby: Yeah, that looks good (Charlotte's Web). No, I would bold it, italicize and underline.

Me: And put quotes around it?

Hubby: Yeah.